‘Dice’ miffed over ‘Donny Clay’ show

Andrew "Dice" Clay is on another rant, this time claiming Jason Alexander is profiting from the Clay name.

Clay, the shock comic who headlines at the Las Vegas Hilton, went on "The Howard Stern Show" last week and lambasted the former "Seinfeld" star for naming his show "The Donny Clay Experience."

He hates Alexander, he said. After calling Alexander "a fat little meatball," Clay told Stern he'd seen Alexander playing poker and saying his million-dollar-an-episode gig on 'Seinfeld' made any bet reasonable.

Dice's hypothetical response, according to Stern's Web site: "You ever get a million a night? Like me. Cause that's what I'd get. ... Here's a guy that was getting a million an episode on 'Seinfeld,' you know, just to be the little fat guy next door."

What aggravated him most, Clay admitted, was Alexander's one-man show at Planet Hollywood Resort in which he plays a foul-mouthed motivational speaker.

"The first time I ever heard about him he was saying nasty (expletive) about me ... then of course you meet him at a card game and he's kissing your (expletive) (expletive), saying 'I wanna be you.'"

"Don't (expletive) use my name and think you're gonna get away with it," said Clay, who's given name is Andrew Clay Silverstein.

Asked for comment, Alexander's rep Ron Hofmann declined on Alexander's behalf.

PHANTOM FEEDBACK

Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" sequel is getting phlogged by phans and critics.

According to the London Times online site, the musical "Love Never Dies," which opened in London last week, "may well be the most pre-emptively vilified show yet. Vicious verdicts began popping up online immediately after previews started at the Adelphi in London on February 22."

Entertainment Weekly gave it a C, describing it as "frequently clunky and clumsy," with a score "that seems like a rehashed parade of pastiche and throbbing crashing-chord melodies."

The Hollywood Reporter said male lead Ramin Karimloo, born in Iran and based in Canada, "has the strut and posture the Phantom needs and he has full command of a rich and subtle voice." Leading lady Sierra Boggess' delivery of the title song "alone is worth the price of admission. Its simple lyric becomes heart-rending as Boggess caresses and sculpts the song in a spotlight moment that in times gone by would have been called a showstopper."

TV PILOT GETS GREEN LIGHT

Another Las Vegas-set TV pilot is in the works.

Loosely based on the local law firm Cristalli & Saggese, the series would feature Jim Belushi cast as a character based on Michael V. Cristalli and Jerry O'Connell as one based on Marc A. Saggese. Both are on board, Cristalli said. The characters' names will not be the same as the lawyers.'

It's the culmination of a four-year project that began with a relationship between Cristalli and Saggese and brothers Joe and Harry Gantz , the producers and developers of the HBO documentary series "Taxicab Confessions."

"We shot a docu-drama several years ago about the law office" and it was sold to CBS as a drama.

The pilot's director, Davis Guggenheim , directed Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and the writing team of Niels Mueller and Kevin Kennedy collaborated on "The Assassination of Richard Nixon," which starred Sean Penn.

Cristalli and Saggese represented Sandy Murphy in her October 2004 retrial in the Ted Binion murder case that ended in an acquittal of murder, but she was convicted of lesser charges of burglary and grand larceny .

SIGHTINGS

Chicago Cubs teammates Ryan Dempster, Kevin Millar and Xavier Nady, in town Friday for the Cubs-White Sox Big League Weekend games at Cashman Field, checked out XS nightclub (Encore). ... Star chef, author and TV cooking show star Charlie Trotter with his new bride, Rochelle, Friday at First Food & Bar (Palazzo), amid speculation that he was closing one of his Las Vegas eateries. ... Retired NFL star Jerome Bettis, belatedly celebrating his 38th birthday Friday at Tao (The Venetian) with ex-teammates Kordell Stewart and Hines Ward. ... "Jersey Shore" reality TV star DJ Pauly D, guest deejaying at Rain (Palms) on Friday. ... At Tao (The Venetian) on Thursday: tennis star Venus Williams, catching rapper Asher Roth's impromptu performance of his hit "I Love College" in front of a spring break crowd. ... Siegfried Fischbacher stopped in Wednesday to see Dirk Arthur's big cat show, which ended this week at the Tropicana.

THE PUNCH LINE

"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years." -- Sam Kinison

Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.